Councillor resigns from the Joint Policing Committee
COUNCILLOR Michael Clarke has resigned from the County Sligo Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in protest at not being allowed raise questions about the exaggerated Garda drink driving statistics.
Cllr Clarke announced his resignation from the JPC at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Sligo County Council.
He told members that he had wanted to ask Chief Superintendent Michael Clancy three questions about the controversy: that out of the 140,000 people wrongly convicted, how many were in Sligo, what had been done to put the record straight, and would there be compensation.
Cllr Clarke said the Chief Superintendent indicated he wanted to reply but “the Chair interjected” ie. Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady.
He claimed she said at that JPC meeting last March, that “issues concerning the Gardaí which are being investigated at national level were beyond the remit of the Committee and it was not an appropriate matter for discussion at local level.”
“I believed that the JPC meeting was the correct meeting to raise those issues,” he said yesterday.
“Since that meeting I have been in contact with other counties Joint Policing Committees, serving and retired Gardaí and I have found no reason why my question was not dealt with at that meeting in March. Other counties had frank discussions in relation to those issues,” he said.
“I believe in the interest of openness and transparency, the questions should have been allowed. In the interest of putting the old politics of protectionism and covering up, of the State’s failures with its citizens, the questions should have been allowed and in public interest the questions should have been allowed,” he said.
Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes replied: “At the time it was raised, I advised the Chair that given this matter was being investigated at national level I felt it was not appropriate to discuss it and I still hold that view.”
Cllr Hubert Keaney agreed and said “there are issues being discussed at national level and that’s where it should stay.”
Chair of the JPC Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady said they couldn’t discuss the issue at “that particular time” but “that didn’t mean they couldn’t discuss it at a future date.”
She said she was sad to see him leave the JPC and asked him to reconsider.
Cllr Declan Bree said his only concern was the “interference of the CEO who felt it wasn’t appropriate to discuss it.”
“It’s up to us, the 18 people who are elected, what to discuss. He has his business to run, we have ours, it’s separate,” said Cllr Bree.
Responding, Mr Hayes said it was his obligation to “advise members” and he would continue to do that. Cllr Clarke said he didn’t want his mandate weakened by officials telling him what he could and couldn’t discuss at the JPC and that was why he resigned.